282 – There is no militarism in our empire (4)
Chief of Staff Building, Office of the Chief of Operations.
“Loyalty! This is Major Zeke von Prime. “I have business with the Operations Director.”
Lieutenant General Walter von Manstein, the owner of this room, heard those words and put down the document he was reading for a moment.
“Please come in.”
As soon as the head of the operation headquarters was given permission to enter the room, the door opened and two young majors came in and immediately showed their respect with each salute.
When Lieutenant General Manstein also informally accepted the salute out of respect for the nobles of the same empire, Major Sieg looked quite impressed.
“What business have you come here for?”
“Captain Peter Yeager has summoned all staff members of the Chief of Staff, including lieutenant generals and below, to the main auditorium.”
“Captain? I thought you would take it easy since you are scheduled to take a long vacation of more than a month as soon as you finish the post-war process. “Are you preparing for a new war?”
It was a story that, if Captain Peter Yeager or Minister of Military Affairs Keitel heard it, they would have grabbed the back of their necks and fainted from blood pressure, but the lieutenant general who said this was very serious.
The beginning of a new war meant that there would be an opportunity to make a huge achievement, and if you serve under Captain Peter Yeager, you can easily get a promotion as long as you follow orders properly.
It was not at all easy for Captain Jaeger to carry out the mission he had been instructed to do.
However, you can only be promoted up to major by doing exactly what you are told, and after you reach lieutenant colonel, you cannot even dream of being promoted unless you achieve more than what higher-ups have told you to do. So, I had to do my best to improve my performance with the feeling of twisting my head and whole body.’
So, in his opinion, the ‘new war led by Captain Peter Yeager’ appears to be a shortcut to the 4 stars he so desperately wanted.
“Look, Major Prime. “What did it look like to you?”
Major Prime could not readily answer those words and closed his mouth tightly.
“Hurry up and answer. If you are preparing for a new war, I will definitely advance your promotion as long as you let me know about it. I guarantee you a promotion to lieutenant colonel within 5 years. “I will give you a place in my faction.”
The major’s tightly closed mouth opened when he heard that he would take responsibility for his promotion.
“Before I came here, the Commander asked me and Major Schmitz what we thought about the new policy of active expansion that the Lieutenant General advocated as the military strategy of the Reich. Then, after listening to my opinion attentively, he wrote down both of our names in a notebook and, with a pleased expression on his face, told him to summon all the staff from lieutenant general and below. “I’m not sure if they’re preparing for a new war, but I thought they were giving Lieutenant General Manstein’s theory a positive evaluation and giving him the opportunity to ‘present’ it…”
“The fact that the person who stands at the center of power, so much so that everyone calls him His Majesty’s right hand man and sword, has prepared a stage for me to stand on… I, Manstein, have finally…”
A thought struck Manstein that he should not talk about his promotion in front of a major, so he swallowed his last words, but this was what he said next.
‘Captain Jaeger will unconditionally become a marshal within the next 4 to 5 years, and I, Manstein, will take the vacant captain position.’
Judging from all the circumstances while listening to the Major’s message, it seemed that Captain Peter Yeager was giving him the opportunity to announce the operation, but he still had to act carefully.
If you were looking forward to it for no reason, but it turned out to be for something else, you would be the one to be embarrassed.
“Is there anything more specific?”
“While relaying the commander’s order, I heard from the Clipper Operation Staff that Captain Jaeger is carefully reading the papers and reports written by Lieutenant General Manstein. In addition, the commander said several times, ‘This is a very impressive operation plan.’ He also told the operation staff to come to the auditorium and hear it for themselves. In the auditorium, chairs and bulletin boards are already being moved as if explaining the strategy during the graduation exam at the Staff College.”
“……”
Major Prime felt that since the story had come this far, he should flatter the Lieutenant General as much as possible and drive a wedge into the fact that he had promised a promotion.
“Because Captain Jaeger served in the military for a short period of time, he was not able to call other captains, His Excellency the Marshal, or His Excellency the Minister of Military Affairs, but it would be enough to gather all the staff members below the rank of lieutenant general. “Wouldn’t all other high-ranking people come too?”
As soon as Lieutenant General Manstein heard those words, the corners of his mouth automatically caught up in his ears as it seemed like he was finally telling me that the opportunity to be promoted to general within a few years beyond the position of head of the operations headquarters was wide open.
It seemed a bit over the top for a man in his early 50s to smile openly like a young serf who confessed to his first love and received consent to marry her, but giving it 4 stars is just as important.
Salary is just salary, but even if you do not make a great contribution in the war, if you successfully complete your term as captain, you can receive severance pay worth at least several thousand gold, as is customary.
The opportunity to add several fiefdoms with tens of thousands of people to his family through war arose several times during his term.
Well, there is a variable called Peter Yeager, who increases the territory by several copies every war, but the Chief of Staff concluded that Captain Yeager is a genius that ordinary staff officers cannot dare to surpass, so from some point on, no one will be able to call Captain Yeager. Do not compare yourself with
Anyway, the position of captain was an opportunity to gain fame and enormous wealth.
‘I wonder if the former prime minister himself said that the position of general is much better than the position of chancellor of the empire…’
The major who brought this good news looked very pretty in the eyes of the lieutenant general.
“So, you said you were Major Prime, and the friend next to you was Major Schmitz, right?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
“After I successfully complete my strategy presentation today, I plan to gather the guys from my faction and have a drink at ‘Butterfly’s Wings.’ You guys should come too. If the brigadier general and major general tell you that you have to work overtime today, tell them that Lieutenant General Manstein is calling you. From now on, I will take care of you two.”
Manstein made a proposal that seemed to open the way to success for the two majors, and Prime accepted the great luck that had befallen him with gratitude.
It was a bit too much to treat the two of them for just giving them good news, but since Captain Jaeger said he had evaluated them positively, it was an offer made with the expectation that they would pay more than the cost of a meal.
He then carefully gathered the materials he needed to present his strategy and moved to the main auditorium, calming his somewhat excited mind as much as possible and being careful not to make a mistake in front of the opportunity of a lifetime.
**
When Lieutenant General Manstein arrived at the main auditorium, what immediately caught his eye were the two chairs placed in the most visible position in the auditorium.
One was a chair where Captain Peter Yeager was already sitting, and the other was a chair where he could sit and directly present his opinions.
And there were people sitting under him, ranging from one horse dung to four stars, as well as five stars and the Minister of Military Affairs. Lieutenant General Manstein, who received the attention of all these people, felt as if he had become the main character in a play of great scale. I thought it was like that.
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has truly come to you.
‘We must meet Captain Jaeger’s evaluation standards at all costs. If you don’t get it right, it’s over. But if you get it right, it just goes up to 4 stars.’
Faced with an incredible opportunity in front of him, he clasped his hands tightly, searching for Deus in his heart, something he didn’t normally look for.
Then, he carefully went to his place on the podium, looked straight into the eyes of Captain Jaeger, who was seated first, with confident eyes, and saluted.
After accepting Lieutenant General Manstein’s salute, Peter Jaeger looked at all the staff below the podium and said:
“This meeting was prepared to discuss the validity of the strategy advocated by Lieutenant General Manstein. “Originally, carefully selected personnel should review the matter first before an event like this is held, but in this case, I thought it would be a good time for all staff officers to listen and understand together, so we arranged an event like this.”
I changed my posture from where I was facing the bottom of the podium to look toward the lieutenant general and continued speaking.
“I was impressed by your strategic outlook. So, he thought that all the staff members attached to the Chief of Staff Headquarters should listen and learn, so he only called in the lieutenant general and below. I never thought that His Excellency the Minister of Military Affairs and His Excellency the Marshal would come. “It may be a bit burdensome, but please tell me your thoughts in as much detail as possible.”
“The active expansion policy I advocated is literally based on actively fighting with each country on the Europa continent based on the imperial army’s excellent combat performance, acquiring as much territory as possible, and lowering the capabilities of potential enemy countries. .”
“It’s a fairly proactive strategy. “Keep talking.”
In those words, Manstein spoke confidently, imagining the Reich Empire soaring like a black eagle and seizing hegemony.
“The military doctrine that the current captain perfected while he was a professor at the General Staff College increased the capabilities of the Imperial Army to the maximum, and when a war game (mock war) was played based on military, combat, and warfare capabilities with other countries, the Reich Imperial Army had a win rate of over 85%. “There are many excellent commanders in the empire, including you, so if we do not miss this opportunity and continue to put pressure on the enemy, the further we go, the closer the empire will become to hegemony.”
A win rate of about 85% in a war game means that you do not have to worry about losing in a war with an enemy, and that depending on your commander’s capabilities, you can win 100 times even if you fight 100 wars.
What’s more, what guarantees this is that if the Chief of Staff is comprised of the best strategists on the Europa continent in the current era, this can just be accepted as common sense.
“The most important fact is that, looking back on the war so far, there was no intervention by a third country, except for the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, when the Kingdom of Stockholm and the Empire were at war. In other words, if an empire fights one-on-one with another country, it can repeat the war infinitely, gaining absolute superiority. The Empire can continue to win in the future. “We must take full advantage of this situation to continue the war over the next four to five years.”
When Peter Yeager heard that, he thought.
That son of a b*tch has shamed me so openly that he wants to voluntarily resign from the military, so we should take this opportunity to get rid of all those who are advocating an active offensive.
‘If you add 1 gram of cyanide to 1 liter of pure water, the entire water immediately becomes poison. If there are even a few people with rotten thoughts within the imperial army and exert influence, the empire and the imperial army will become rotten.’